Adhiratha
Adhiratha ( Sanskrit अधिरथ Adhiratha ) is a figure of Indian mythology , in the Mahabharata he appears as the foster father of Karna .
Kunti is given the gift of calling on any god and allowing himself to become pregnant. She invokes the sun god Surya and receives her son Karna from him. However, since she is unmarried, she puts the newborn baby in a basket and lets it drift down the Ganges . Karna is found there by the charioteer and friend of King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur Adhiratha and his wife Radha and raised by them together. When Karna grew up to be a youth, Adhiratha sent him to Hastinapur so that he could learn the craft of weapons from Drona .
In later revisions of the material, Adhiratha's career will be further developed in various ways. On the one hand, he becomes the charioteer of Dhritarashtra, on the other hand, he himself becomes king of Anga .
literature
- Adhiratha . In: John Dowson : A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature. Trübner & co., London 1879, p. 2 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
- James Lochtefeld: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism , Volume 1. Rosen, New York 2002, ISBN 9780823931798 , pp. 6 f.